The size and complexity of computer datacenters are increasing to provide support for the global internet. The computer networks which provide communication capability within computer datacenters can be a limiting factor in datacenter performance. Particularly where distributed computing and communication-intensive applications are performed, the network performance should scale with the number of servers that make up the computer datacenter.
However, existing Ethernet-based networks require large switches at the core of the datacenter. High-value Ethernet core switches are often overpriced and not ideally suited for scalable datacenter applications. These switches are not easily replaced by multiple less expensive switches due to Ethernet's poor support for multi-path routing. Additionally, Ethernet's limitations can prevent efficient utilization of network architectures which provide multi-paths between network components.
Throughout the drawings, identical reference numbers designate similar, but not necessarily identical, elements.